Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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45. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the measures his department will take to address the lack of availability and poor management of Ireland's electric vehicle charging infrastructure; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [49105/17]

Brian Stanley (Laois, Sinn Fein)
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54. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment his plans in regard to the future charging network following a recent decision by the regulator in terms of the future financing of the public charging points for electric vehicles. [49010/17]

Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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The Minister is well aware of the importance of getting a shift in the way in which people use private vehicles. In particular, we need to move away from the burning of fossil fuels and electric vehicles would seem to be an appropriate method of addressing our climate change obligations and improving citizens' behaviour in that regard. I ask the Minister to give us some understanding of how he intends to improve the management of Ireland's electric vehicle charging infrastructure to assist in that effort.

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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Does the grouping of the questions mean that I have double the time to respond?

Alan Farrell (Dublin Fingal, Fine Gael)
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Yes, the Minister has four minutes.

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 45 and 54 together.

The ESB, through its eCars programme, has rolled out an extensive public network of charging points across Ireland with approximately 900 electric vehicle charge points. We have one of the more comprehensive charge point networks in Europe for a country of our size. The maintenance and repair of these points is an operational matter for ESB eCars. Although there will be outages from time to time for technical reasons, ESB eCars operates the system to a high standard. This can be seen through the online map which shows the status of each charge point including if it is in use.

As battery technology develops, the range of electric cars will grow and higher capacity charging will be needed to support quicker charge times and longer travelling ranges. It is anticipated that large car manufacturers will become increasingly involved in the provision of high-powered infrastructure. A number of providers are likely to emerge onto the Irish market in the coming years. Nissan already has a number of charge points available through its dealer network and Tesla recently opened its second supercharger location in Ireland.

The provision of electric vehicle infrastructure, particularly the availability of public charging points, is a key focus of the work of the low emissions vehicle task force. The task force is co-chaired by my Department and the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport and is examining options for infrastructure, regulation and pricing in order to devise a sustainable policy framework for effective and efficient electric vehicle recharging.

  The work of the low emissions vehicle task force led to a package of measures in budget 2018 designed to promote a low carbon, electric vehicle future. These measures include funding to support the operation and development of the public charging network with a specific emphasis on increasing the number of rapid chargers. The task force is also planning a stakeholder workshop later this month to explore issues related to the future requirements for electric vehicle recharging infrastructure.

  Following a public consultation, the Commission for Regulation of Utilities, CRU, last month published its decision on the future ownership of the electric vehicle charging network. A key outcome of the decision is that the charging network should not form part of the regulated asset base and therefore expansions of the network should not be funded from network charges. This is in keeping with the proposals published last year by the European Commission in the 'Clean Energy for All Europeans' package.  The decision also sets out the need for electric vehicle charging infrastructure to operate on a commercial basis. Currently, recharging electric vehicles at public charge points is free and unlimited. Deputies will, however, appreciate that free fuel for electric vehicles, funded by electricity consumers, is not sustainable in the longer term. At the same time, it is important that if payments for the use of public charge points are introduced in the future, they are at a level which does not disincentivise the uptake of electric vehicles.

  The low emissions vehicle task force has made a number of recommendations. The task force is also assessing the decision of the CRU in its examination of the future requirements for electric vehicle recharging infrastructure. The work of the task force is well underway and has already resulted in a package of measures in budget 2018 designed to promote a low carbon, electric vehicle future. 

Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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The budget did little to support a greater uptake of electric vehicles. The elimination of benefit-in-kind on a one year basis is a disincentive. Companies, as the Minister knows, seek certainty around their asset base and how they are taxed and very few will invest if it is just for one year.

The Minister could nearly substitute the words "electric vehicle" for "broadband" in what he announced. It is what Tesla and Nissan are doing, and there is a task force and another group looking into it.

If we are to get real about addressing the climate change issue, we must target the population of vehicles across the State. We must have an aggressive approach to taking action to encourage behavioural change. I think the Minister can do it. I know he gets it because he has already told me he is using a hybrid vehicle himself and he has complimented the technology that exists. We will have to put in place financial incentives in the short term. For example, we will have to retain the free electricity so let us not talk about paying for five or six years for those who take it up. What has been done to date has not worked. We had 2,970 vehicles by June 2017 in the battery and electric vehicle plug-in hybrid market. The reality is that this is one twentieth of what Fine Gael had promised, although I am not expecting the Minister to answer for Fine Gael. We need to take it out of the hands of the mandarins in the Minister's Department and other Departments who are looking at task forces and a step-by-step approach. It will be 2030 and we will still not have even reached our 2020 targets. We need action.

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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To correct the record, the benefit-in-kind zero rate is for a minimum of three years, not one. The Deputy is right that this needs to be a minimum, and the hope and intention is to extend that timeframe. In the budget we have maintained the grant relief, which is among the best in Europe, and we are also committing to bringing in a grant for the installation of home charges, not just for new vehicles but for second-hand vehicles, and to support electric vehicles for taxis, hackneys and limousines.

The Deputy is right that there has to be behavioural change. This year we established the behavioural economics unit within the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland to look specifically at this. However, we cannot shoehorn people into this. We need to take a number of strands. First, we need people, when they are purchasing, to purchase clean vehicles and zero emissions vehicles, but we also need to look at how we can retrofit the existing fleet to drive down emissions in the short term. The behavioural economics unit is looking at such issues and is feeding into the task force and into other measures within the Department. We are trying to proceed based on what was done in the past, for example, with the plastic bag tax and the smoking ban, which have dramatically transformed attitudes in this country in regard to health and the environment. There are other measures and initiatives. What was announced in the budget for 2018 is a first step but it is a very positive step. The feedback I have already received from commercial businesses in regard to the three-year benefit-in-kind suggests we will see a significant shift in 2018.

Brian Stanley (Laois, Sinn Fein)
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The decision of the Commission for the Regulation of Utilities, CRU, has left the situation in limbo. I listened carefully to the Minister in regard to the charging points. The CRU in its paper said there will be no further funding of the assets through network charges and went on to say it expects the ESB to arrange the sale of the assets. We have 1,946 electric cars in the State. The Minister said we are the best in Europe but we are not, given other northern European states are at multiples of that figure. We have to put in place the infrastructure. While the Minister mentioned the plastic bag levy, which is successful and which we support, this is not the same as the plastic bag levy. It requires planning and action. We have not seen that to date in terms of where and how the infrastructure will be provided and how people will access charging points to get electric vehicles on the road and sustain them, even for short journeys.

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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First, we have one charge point for every four cars in the country.

Brian Stanley (Laois, Sinn Fein)
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That is because there are so few cars.

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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We have 900 electric vehicle charge points across the country. I compliment the initiative by the Cathaoirleach of Roscommon County Council, Orla Leyden, and Roscommon County Council, which has put in place proper signage in regard to electric vehicles and parking spaces. I hope other local authorities will follow the example of Roscommon County Council. Of those 900 electric vehicle charge points, some 800 are standard public charge points and 70 have DC fast chargers. I accept we need to improve the infrastructure across the country and that is why I have allocated funding in the budget for 2018 to roll out fast charge points across the country.

The Deputy is right that the CRU has made this recommendation. However, there is a ten-year lead-in time so we have time to transition from the current ownership model. We must remember that the decision that was taken previously was to establish this pilot project to roll out electric vehicle infrastructure and study the impact of electric vehicles on the electricity distribution system itself. From that point of view, it made sense. I do not think anyone is surprised by the decision that has been made by CRU. The fact we have a ten-year timeline is positive but it is the case that we need to invest in improving the infrastructure. That is why we started this process in budget 2018.

Brian Stanley (Laois, Sinn Fein)
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That is all fine and dandy but we are talking about reducing our carbon dioxide emissions and we are not doing very well on that front. I do not understand the sense of urgency being given to this issue because we are way behind. There is very little mention of home charging points and there are question marks over whether the grid can sustain the load if several people with electric cars in the same street all plug in at the one time. It is Sinn Féin's belief that we need to get into home charging, particularly if we are phasing out the current system.

I heard the point about the ten-year phase-out, which is to be welcomed. I take it the ESB does not have to stop next month or the month after, and that it can be phased out. The Minister also made the point about there being one charging point for every four cars but that simply shows there is not the take-up we require. We need to look at this scheme again. One of the places we could start is with public service vehicles and local authority vehicles that are doing short runs. The milk carts of 30, 40 and 50 years ago ran on batteries. Surely it is not beyond the imagination and engineering ingenuity of this generation to get such vehicles running on electricity in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. I want the Minister to take up with his Department officials the whole issue of home charging, which I do not think they are giving the urgency it needs.

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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With regard to home charging points, from 1 January a new grant scheme will be brought in. If someone buys a new car or second-hand car, he or she will get a grant for a home charging point. Every new car that has been purchased to date in this country has been able to avail of a home charging point but, from now on, it will be available not just for new purchases but for the purchase of a second-hand vehicle. That does two things: it gives confidence to someone who buys a second-hand vehicle but it also provides reassurance for those who buy new vehicles that there is a second-hand market.

With regard to the load on the grid, while this is a valid point, we are looking at the other side, which is microgeneration. As the Deputy knows, we held a forum in Dublin in the past month and the view was that both of those issues can be addressed together and can help to solve that problem - for example, putting solar PV panels on a roof has an impact on the grid. We have two problems, one in demand and one in supply, and the question is whether we can bring them together.

We are now examining a broader approach to that than has been taken to date.

Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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I support everything that my colleague, Deputy Stanley, said about home parking. We do not need pilot projects for a couple of aspects, only common sense. People need to be able to charge at home and where they go ultimately. The majority of trips are to work or shopping centres. People park in the environs of their workplaces or public or private car parks.

The Department and the Government need to develop incentives for workplace and private car parks to put the infrastructure in place. We have a Mickey Mouse operation at the moment, with a couple of high-visibility points around St. Stephen's Green and other places like it that few people will ever get to use. As the Minister stated, the ratio of points to cars is adequate at 1:4, but we should not even be thinking like that. If we want a seismic shift in behavioural change, doubters of this technology need to see a free space everywhere they park. In addition to financial incentives, they would then know that they could charge in a public car park, at a filling station or in their work environs. That requires State incentives.

Roads used to be ass-and-cart dirt tracks but, with the advent of Henry Ford's invention, people had the foresight to start building infrastructure that could carry that type of vehicle in current volumes. The Government needs to get into that kind of mindset and put key infrastructure in place. If the Minister can make the shift and begin that process, he can dispense with some of his pilot projects and little groupings that are operating in the background. He knows where this needs to go. Make the big move and incentivise workplaces, car park owners and others to get there.

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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To address an issue raised by Deputies Dooley and Stanley, next year we will support the public sector and commercial fleet trials of electric vehicles and car sharing.

Turning to Deputy Dooley's point, technology has moved on. For the majority of people, the daily commute is far shorter than the car's charge. Among Nordic countries, for example, Nissan is discussing using excess electricity in car batteries. When people drive to their workplaces, electricity will go from their batteries and rejoin the network when it is in high demand. We are examining that idea.

Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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Grid access is needed for that.

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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While we need to roll out infrastructure, we also need to upgrade existing infrastructure. This is all part of the process started by budget 2018. Range anxiety is beginning to disappear. For many people, a 200 km range is adequate to meet their daily commuting needs. Any household that has two cars should, on the purchase of a new car, convert one of them into an electric vehicle. We are installing charge points at home for people who are purchasing second-hand cars. We are also considering issues of technology, range anxiety and putting infrastructure in place for those travelling longer distances.